Frames and supports in 15th and 16th-century Southern Netherlandish painting

catalogue 310 11. Antwerp Anonymous, Triptych with Virgo inter Virgines . Closed: marbling. Open: centre: Virgin and Child with Saints ; wings: St Catherine of Alexandria ; St Barbara , early 16th century Inv. no. 0037 Provenance: probably purchased from Brussels art dealer Ulrich in 1900. Bibliography: De Coo 1966, 121. Panels: central panel consisting of three elements; painted in the frame. The wings appear to consist of single boards. The joins and a crack are roughly reinforced with wooden slats. Frames: the outside lips of the grooves have been cut off to allow the extraction of the panels. A wooden lath is screwed across the whole width of the triptych to stabilize the wings in open position. The sides are covered with a thick mastic filling which conceals the joints: slotted joints above (?); through mortise and tenon joints below (?). Above: hanging/holding holes and, on the outside of the wings, two-thirds of the way up the stiles, original closing hook. Outside: the frames are painted in black and the panels covered with a reddish brown marbling; inside: the gilded polychromy has been redone.